Facing My Fears–How I benefit from being scared.

Do you like being scared? Some people thrive off of it. That’s why scary movies are so popular. That’s why sky diving and bungy jumping are a thing. Some people just enjoy the sensation of being scared. However, that’s not me. I hate being scared. I was never one of those people seeking out haunted houses or spook alleys around Halloween, and scary movies hold no appeal to me. I really hate being scared. This is a problem because, in actuality, there are a lot of things that scare me.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do one thing each and every day that scares you.” For me, finding something that scares me isn’t too difficult. I am kind of an anxious person about a lot of things. All I have to do is go to a store that has a forklift. I hate forklifts. It’s a super silly fear, I know. And actually, it has become more of a large discomfort than actual fear, but it used to be a big fear when I was a little kid. There wasn’t much that scared me worse than a forklift. I still don’t feel comfortable around them, and I can still feel an actual fear response, even if it isn’t as intense as it used to be.

There are plenty of other things that scare me too. Some of these fears would affect my everyday life if I didn’t push myself to confront them at least every once in a while. I mean, I could never go anywhere like Home Depot or Costco if I couldn’t bring myself to face the possibility of spotting a forklift. But guess what! I do go to those places, I see forklifts, and I survive! I’ve survived enough times that my brain has decided that maybe they aren’t as big of a threat as my three-year-old self thought and that I might be okay. I can now encounter a forklift without having to do more than take a deep breath and try to ignore it. Maybe my heart does beat a little faster, but I can live with that. By making myself face the forklifts, I have mostly overcome that particular fear.

Now, I know a forklift is a silly example, and I could probably have given you plenty of other examples that I’ve had to confront that aren’t quite as ridiculous, but the forklift does get the idea across. I’ve noticed that when I do something I’m scared to do, and I do it over and over again, that thing loses a lot of its scariness. The first few times might be agonizingly hard, but when I can get over that part, it gets better. Possibilities open up. I can do more. I can be freer. I am happier. I always feel a bit better about myself when I have done something I was afraid to do. And the next time, it is just a bit easier. And then it is even easier after that.

I guess, in other words, even though I hate being scared, it isn’t such a bad thing to let myself be scared sometimes. If I always avoided feeling scared, my world would grow so small that I wouldn’t have room to breathe. Sometimes I have to make myself feel the uncomfortable feeling of fear so that I can later find the freedom to do things and become things I never would be able to otherwise. It doesn’t mean I have to seek out scary movies or go skydiving every weekend, but I can do things that scare me, and I’ll be better off for it later. The secret is to stop being scared of being scared. After all, Franklin D. Roosevelt, (the man who was married to Eleanor Roosevelt who gave the quote about doing one thing that scares you every day), said, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Do you like being scared, or do you hate it? What scares you, and how do you feel when you’ve confronted it?